Town Hall News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senator Michael Bennet introduced a bill on Thursday that would create a task force to look at U.S. policies on artificial intelligence, and identify how best to reduce threats to privacy, civil liberties and due process. The popular use of ChatGPT and other AI, which have been used for years to create text, imagery and other content, has sparked a rush around the globe to figure out […]

LONDON (Reuters) – Former world number one Simona Halep has called on tennis’s anti-doping organisation to give her the chance to clear her name after she was provisionally suspended by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) in October. The former Wimbledon and French Open champion was tested during last year’s U.S. Open and both her A and B samples confirmed the presence of banned blood-booster roxadustat. Halep strenuously denies knowingly […]

By Sarah Young LONDON (Reuters) -BBC Chairman Richard Sharp resigned on Friday after an independent report found he had breached public appointment rules by not disclosing potential conflict of interest in his role in securing a $1 million loan for the then-prime minister, Boris Johnson. His exit comes at a time of heightened political scrutiny of the British public broadcaster. A high-profile row with highly paid presenter Gary Lineker over […]

By Jennifer Rigby and Maggie Fick LONDON (Reuters) – Pfizer Inc has pledged to deliver critical new medicines more quickly in low-income nations, but its first such vaccine effort faces hurdles likely to delay distribution in poorer countries by several years, global health officials told Reuters. Pfizer made a commitment on more equitable access last year, following criticism that it prioritized wealthy nations for doses of its COVID-19 shot early […]

By Arathy Somasekhar and Marianna Parraga HOUSTON (Reuters) – Chevron Corp has stepped up sales of Venezuelan crude oil to rival U.S. refiners, adding PBF Energy Inc and Marathon Petroleum Corp to its list of customers for the crude, vessel tracking and loading schedules showed. U.S. Gulf Coast refiners, which historically processed Venezuelan oil, have shown a renewed appetite for the heavy sour crude grade after Chevron late last year […]

KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine is wrapping up preparations for a counteroffensive against Russian forces and is largely ready for it to go ahead, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Friday. “As soon as there is God’s will, the weather and a decision by commanders, we will do it,” he told an online news briefing. He gave no date for when the counteroffensive would start but said: “Globally speaking, we are […]

By Sarah Young LONDON (Reuters) -BBC Chairman Richard Sharp resigned on Friday after an independent report found he had breached public appointment rules by not disclosing potential conflict of interest in his role in securing a $1 million loan for the then-prime minister, Boris Johnson. His exit comes at a time of heightened political scrutiny of the British public broadcaster. A high-profile row with highly paid presenter Gary Lineker over […]

By Shadia Nasralla LONDON (Reuters) – Oil prices were heading for another monthly decline on Friday after disappointing U.S. economic data and uncertainty over further interest rate hikes weighed on the demand outlook. Brent crude futures for June were up 42 cents, or 0.5%, at $78.79 a barrel by 0946 GMT while the more actively traded July contract was down 1 cent at $78.21. Brent is set for its fourth […]

By Sarah Wu TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan’s top chip design company MediaTek is focusing more resources on chips for cars and AI computing as its smartphone clients face a supply glut and inflation and macroeconomic uncertainty dent demand for consumer electronics. “We are definitely moving our resources very, very rapidly towards the automotive and computing areas, because those areas will provide our growth in the next three to five years,” […]